Port Blair, Jan 22: The Non-Gazetted Govt. Officers’ Association, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has demanded payment of DA/DR to Central Govt. employees and pensioners at the current rate of 28% from January, 2021. In a letter sent to Smti. Nirmala Sitaraman,Union   Finance Minister recently,  Shri T S  Sreekumar, General Secretary of the Association said that the economical condition of the country has improved considerably after September,2020.The GST collection is steadily improving and it touched at an all time  record of Rs 1,15,000 Crores in December,2020.Further commendable recovery has been reported from industrial sector  and equity market.  He also pointed out about the remarkable improvement in covid-19 situation in the country and mentioned the crucial role played by Government employees and workers for this achievement.

The General Secretary informed the Union Finance Minister that the decision not to release the additional installments of DA/DR due from January 2020, July 2020 and January 2021 has affected the lives of Govt. employees, workers and pensioners very badly. The employees retired after January, 2020 are the worst affected category as they suffered huge losses even in their pension benefits.

He has requested the Minister to review the decision to freeze the Dearness allowance and Dearness relief of employees and workers at the level of July, 2019 (17 %) on the basis of improvement in economy and Covid – 19 situation. He appealed her to release additional installment of DA/DR so that employees and pensioners may get the DA/DR at the current rate of 28% from the month of January, 2021.